Listening to Silence
by Ari'Lizbeth
Summary: We are born with two ears and one mouth for a reason, and that reason is that you should listen more than talk. But what if you can't talk at all? Better yet, what if you can't see either? What if you can only listen? What if you can only wonder?
1. Chapter 1

Listening to Silence: Prologue

They say eyes are windows to the soul. The problem is,I don't know what people see through my eyes. I can't even see into others. I'm blind. I'm also mute. Because of this, I find it very hard to express myself. I can't tell people how I feel, nor show any emotion through my eyes. All I can do is listen. Listen to people make fun of me behind my back, listen to the teacher as he or she drones on and on about some boring topic, listen to Mr. Underwood (a student teacher and my only friend) comfort me and lead me through the halls to my next class which, by the way is completely unessential.

Anyway, I'm ten years old and go to Elwood Elementary in Philadelphia, PA. Boarding School? I wish! Wonder why? My dad is abusive and shows no mercy that I can't see his attacks coming. In fact, it seems the factor that I'm blind just makes him more upset. My life was pretty miserable before I knew I was a half blood. But, for some strange reason, every night when I laid in bed and thought about myself and my life to come, I always knew I was destined for great things. Hi! I'm Nikki Montalvno, and this is my story.

**Hey everyone! Sorry this is so short! In the future, the chapters will be longer. I'll make sure of it. **

**Please Review! Thanks!**

**- Braveryx11**


	2. Chapter 1: Meeting Nikki

Listening to Silence: Chapter 1

**Hey Guys! Just so you know, most of this story won't be in Nikki's perspective because I've found it hard to write it in her POV.**

**So, here's chapter 1!**

Percy POV:

It was just a normal day at camp half blood. I was sitting with my wife, Annabeth, watching our two little children, Payton and Daniel play in the waves. It had only been a month after the Titan War when Annabeth and I had gotten married, and now, five years later, we have two little three year olds running around!

We were talking and watching our children play when a cloud of mist formed to reveal a hologram of Grover.

"Percy, I need you're help," he said in a hurried tone, "There's this girl named Nikki whose scent is quite strong. I've tried to protect her from monster attacks as best I can, but I think I need you and Annabeth's help to get her to camp."

"Sure ol' buddy!" I replied with glee, "Where's your location?"

" Philadelphia PA at Elwood Elementary." he said, "Hurry!" He then swiped his hand through the Iris message and broke off connection.

"Kids," Annabeth yelled, "We need to go to the Big House." Our kids came running to us.

**6 hours later**

Annabeth and I found ourselves in the school parking lot. Waiting for Grover to come out with this half blood. The final bell had wrung about five minutes ago and we were patiently waiting. **(A/N: Can kids with ADHD wait patiently?) **

A few minutes later, we (more like Annabeth) caught sight of Grover leading a young girl to us. The young girl was short, only 3'10, and her eyes were glassy and showed no emotion, yet the color was amazing. Her pupils were silver. Also, her hair was a silky, smooth, auburn that reached the small of her back.

"Grover," Annabeth said uneasily, "Whats wrong with her eyes?" The girl's face became a well worn** (Is well worn one or two words?) **frown. She turned on her heel and started running. As you may have already guessed, we ran after her.

We ran and ran. At one point, Grover panted, "How does she run like that? She's blind for Hades' sake!"

"She's blind?" Annabeth and I yelled at the same time. It would have helped to know that up front. Grover flinched, but kept running. We ran for about 25 miles and the girl didn't even break a sweat. Grover, Annabeth, and I on the other hand, even with our years of training were sweating like pigs **(A/N: I know Michelle, pigs don't actually sweat. It's a simile.) **and were falling over each other. The girl, who I supposed was Nikki, ran up the rickety steps of an old house in the middle of a large forest and shut the screen door behind her.

The house was small and looked abandoned. It had serious water damage and ivy was growing on the walls as well as moss on the roof. A few seconds later, there was a bunch of shouting.

"Nicole!" a noticeably angry man yelled. We ran to the nearest window and peeped inside to see a 60 year old man beating the little, 10 year old, blind girl. After about 15 minutes of this, he left her there, and went into the kitchen, calling over his shoulder, "Thats what you get for being late." We watched the girl get up ever so slowly and stumble up the squeaky,wooden, staircase. We crept through the window and tip-toed after her.

When we got to the top of the stairs,we peeked under one of the doors. Inside, the girl had changed into some plaid p-js that looked like hammy-downs. She crawled into bed, and at that one moment, I saw something in her eyes. A glimmer of hope.

**Hey guys! That was chapter uno! Please review! I'd love to hear what you think. You're input is****very important to me! Chapter 2 is on its way!**


	3. Chapter 3

Listening to Silence: Chapter 2

**Hey Everyone! Chapter 2 is up! R&R!**

Annabeth POV:

The next morning, we decided for Grover to bring Nikki to us after school to discuss things. Apparently, this child has an abusive parent, so it should be easy to convince her to come to camp and that the gods are real. I hope we'll have a minimum of monster attacks so we can just get her to camp and then forget this whole thing even happened. All I want to do is go back to camp, spend more time with my kids, and create some more designs for Olympus.

My husband, Seaweed Brain over here, has different ideas. He thinks we should get to know the kid, maybe even adopt her to be part of our family. I, daughter of Athena, always has a plan, but right now, I don't know what to do. What if Seaweed Brain is right and we should adopt her? When we get to camp, could we just ditch her? Aaaarrrgghh! Stupid gods! Why do they have to make everything so hard?

Just then, my husband's voice broke my train of thought. "Hey honey. Its time to go meet up with Grover and Nikki." Notice how he made sure to include Nikki. Wow he must have a soft spot for her!

"Okay Seaweed Brain! I'm coming!" I replied back.

"I thought we decided to drop the nicknames, Wise girl!"

"Too bad Seaweed brain, in case you haven't noticed, I still call you by your nickname... a lot!"

"Hugh?"

"Or maybe is you head to stuffed with kelp to notice?" I laughed.

"Whatever," my husband muttered as he twirled the keys around his finger and headed off to the car. I ran after him.

**30 minutes later**

After that long agonizing drive, we parked and made our way up to the school. Grover was waiting for us, his arms cradling the girls' broken body. "What happened?" Percy asked worried as he stared at the lump in Grover's arms.

"Monster attack." he said in a sad tone. All of us stared at her for a minute, wondering what to do.

"Okay." I said, finally breaking the silence, "Come on guys, we got to get Nikki out of here." They both followed me to our mini van.

After about an hour of driving, the girl started to wake up. "Hello Nikki." I said almost soothingly, "Are you alright?" there was no answer. After asking her again and getting nothing again, Grover spoke up.

"Oh, did I forget to mention she's also mute?"

"Grover!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, which made Percy swerve, which, in turn, made Nikki flinch. I composed myself before speaking again. "Grover, please give us the details before you ask us to help us next time!"

"Okay, okay!" Grover assured me, "I will!"

We kept driving and soon enough, Nikki was asleep in my arms. As I watched her sleep, I thought, 'You know, she is really cute when she sleeps.' I shook that thought out of my head. I wasn't supposed to think that about someone I despise? Am I?

**20 minutes later**

Nikki was still fast asleep when an ear piercing roar broke the silence.

**OOOOooooo! A little cliffy! let me know what you think! **


	4. AN

**Hey Guys! **

**Sorry if you thought this was an update. To tell you the truth, I'm kind of disappointed it's not an update myself. I just thought I should let you know that my naming of the chapters is all messed up. Just read them in the order they are, and you'll be fine. Sorry again. The prologue really messed me up.**

**- braveryx11**


	5. This is important! READ!

**Listen guys. I know you are probably very disappointed this isn't an update. Oh, but btw, I'm almost done with the next chapter. This is about the earthquake in Japan. Please, I beg of you, pray for them during these difficult times. Please also pray God will be with them. Thank you.**

** - braveryx11**


	6. Chapter 4

Listening to Silence: Chapter 4

**Okay guys. I'm going to make myself perfectly clear. No 5th chapter, unless I get at least 5 people to update. (5 people for 5 chapters get it?) Hehehe! Anyway, as usual, any corrections or anything please give me the heads up. Oh, and also take a look at my other two stories. They are both pretty good.**

Recap: _Nikki was still fast asleep when an ear piercing roar broke the silence._

Annabeth POV:

I looked out of the car window to see a chimera and a minotaur sprinting towards us at incredible speed. Percy swerved to get out of the way from the incoming monsters. Nikki had jerked awake when the sound had made its appearance and was now sitting in the seat next to me gripping the handles so hard her knuckles were turning white.

"Percy!" I yelled over the noise of the screeching brakes, "Do you know..."

"Protect Nikki at all costs." he interrupted and got out of the car with Grover right behind him. I couldn't believe him. He interrupted me.

_Me._

I was beyond mad, but another loud roar brought me back to reality. I grabbed Nikki's hand and led her out of the car just as the minotaur smashed giant hand into the minivan turning the minivan into a pancake. I dragged Nikki to the side of the road behind some trees.

"Stay here." I told Nikki. She nodded slowly and stayed concealed in the shadows.

I jumped out into the open, drew my dagger, and charged into battle. Percy, Grover, and I fought together amazingly. We knew each other's strengths and weaknesses, we knew each other's fighting styles and strategies, heck, we even knew our favorite colors.(Which is kind of besides the point but, well, you know what I mean. We know each other really well and it made us more unstoppable than ever.)

Because of this, both monsters were nothing but dust in about 20 seconds flat. We looked at each other and nodded in praise for each others' fighting skill. I then remembered Nikki and turned around to the hiding place I gave her yet, she wasn't there.

"Percy," I called nervously.

"Yeah." shouted Percy from across the street who, at the moment, was checking the damage of our now destroyed minivan.

"Nikki's gone." I said quietly, hoping he wouldn't hear, but apparently, he did because he yelled,

"WHAT?"

"She's gone." I stated simply. Percy looked at me, expecting more, so I continued, "I set her down here and told her to stay right here, but... she isn't." worry creased across his face.

"Where could she be?" Percy wondered.

"WITH THE MONSTERS! DUH!" I screamed in his face. Percy and Grover looked at each other, then back at me with looks of fear on their faces. It was then that we heard rustling in the tree above us. We looked up to see that Nikki had climbed that tree that looked impossible to climb, and was swinging a brach from side to side to side to apparently get our attention.

"How did she get up there?" Grover asked.

"Oh, I don't know, perhaps she climbed." I stated with sarcasm dripping from my lips.

"I know, I know." Grover said, "I was talking about since she's blind."

"That was sarcasm, goat boy." I stated as I punched him lightly in the arm to let some of my anger out.

"Okay, okay."

Grover POV:

MAN THAT HURT!

Annabeth just hit me! "Seriously goat boy. That was barely a slap." Annabeth laughed.

"Yeah right." I mumbled. Percy and I somehow got little Nikki out of the tree. I was happy once we finally started moving. Nikki's scent was strong and if we stay in one place for too long, we would be dead meat.

We decided that the car was unrepairable and started walking. 'Man,' I thought, 'This is going to be a long trip.'

**So, there you have it people. Chapter number 4! I hope you liked it as much as the others! R&R! ****Remember, 5 reviews!**

**- braveryx11 **


	7. another AN

**Hey guys! Just so you know, I will soon update. I just started spring break so I will have more time to write and update! So don't worry. I will update by tomorrow!**

**- braveryx11 ;)**


	8. Chapter 5

Listening to Silence: Chapter 5

**So, as I promised, I updated! Within 30 minutes of my notice! Aren't I awesome? You gotta love me! Don't ya? Anyway, here's chapter 5!**

Percy POV:

We walked for five hours straight. It was agonizing and Annabeth wouldn't allow us to stop. Apparently, we needed to get some ground before the monsters pick up our scent. I, for one, believe we could just fight them off. Of course, there is the safety of Nikki that we'd be putting at risk.

"Annabeth," Grover whined, "My feet hurt. Can we rest?"

"Fine, goat boy!" Annabeth said, clearly agitated. We sat down under some trees.

"Man I'm thirsty!" I stated, tired from the long, agonizing, walk, "Annabeth, do you have any water?"

"Nope!" Annabeth replied angrily, "You drank it all!" I sighed. I was super thirsty. Being a son of Poseidon, I drank a lot of water. It was just how I did things. Nikki cocked her head to the side, as if listening for something.

She's so quiet. Sometimes, I forget she's even there. She quickly got up and grabbed my hand.

Nikki pulled me up, and started walking through the woods with me in tow. Let's just say that I was afraid that she'd smack straight into a tree, but she didn't. As we got further and further into the woods, I started to feel the presence of a water source.

After five minutes, I started to hear running water. Then, we emerged into a rocky area. The area was small and could probably only fit six people at most. Also, there was a small creek. I wondered how Nikki had heard it. It was about a mile away from the place we were resting.

Just then, there was a rustling in the bushes. I looked in the direction of where the sound came from and the foliage parted to show a manticore, tail at the ready.

Annabeth POV:

So, Nikki ran of with Percy, probably to give him a well deserved lesson about saving water instead of consuming it like a drunken whore.

I was about to run after them. (Nikki's blind and Percy's head is full of kelp so they could get lost.) Grover stopped me though.

"Nikki knows what she's doing." he said. I decided, since I was still angry at that Seaweed Brain for drinking all the water that I would leave him to find a way back on his own.

A hour passed, and I started to get worried. I looked around and there was still no sign of them.

I was about to go look for them when a high-pitched scream filled the air.

**Sorry! It's kind of short and a little cliffy! Let me know though what you think! R&R!**

**- braveryx11 ;)**


	9. AN Sorry!

**Okay guys! I regret to inform you that work loads at school and parent problems have slowed me down to the point that I can't update. :(**

**I have decided to take a short break from fanfiction until school lets out. I promise you'll see an update on this story by June 21st. **

**I am very sorry yet again. **

**Until June, **

**- braveryx11 :(**


	10. Chapter 6

Listening to Silence: Chapter 6

**Hello Everyone! I'm back!**

Percy POV:

"Dr. Thorn?" I asked in utter shock. I thought I killed him already.

"Yes young Perseus you may have diluted me for a small while, but now I'm back and more powerful than ever!" he screeched.

I was scared for poor Nikki. I didn't want her to get hurt. I uncapped Riptide and stepped in between her and the manticore. Dr. Thorn started circling us. He smiled evilly. Suddenly, a high pitched scream filled the air. I turned around and saw Nikki, bow in hand, smile as another manticore slowly faded into dust. My mouth dropped and so did Dr. Thorn's. He let out a few spikes toward her which fell to the ground in halves from her arrows.

Nikki quickly whipped out one more arrow, and launched it. The arrow hit the manticore with dead accuracy in the heart. The manticore let out a wail and disappeared into dust.

Just then, Annabeth and Grover emerged from the trees, weapons at the ready. They looked around, and then noticed Nikki holding the bow. Their faces were lined with confusion.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked, "How'd Nikki get that?"

I shrugged, then looked to Grover for any ideas. "I have no idea."

**So, I know. Super short. But I will give you a longer one for the next chapter. I swear on the river Styx! R&R! ^_^**

**- braveryx11 ;)**


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